Thomas G Clark
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"He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over"- Porteus The year 1845 was disturbingly quiet on the east coast of the United States; no hurricanes or tropical storms had made landfall. However, the residents along the coast knew that there would be 'hell to pay" when '46 arrived. It didn't take long before a wicked nor'easter battered the entire coastline in February. The storm reached inland from Savannah, Georgia to Syracuse, New York where...
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On a warm day in July 1883, a crowd gathered for the launch of the newest steamship added to the fleet of the Glasgow, Dublin and Londonderry Steam Packet Company. At 11:25 a.m., a champagne bottle shattered across the bow, christening of the 500-ton SS Daphne.
As the Daphne began to leave her slip, she accelerated toward the Clyde while a hundred men aboard waved to the crowd of onlookers. Within seconds of entering the river, 124 men and boys would...
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In August 1831, the steamer Rothsay Castle was following her routine excursion from Liverpool to North Wales. It was the height of summer and one hundred plus passengers were traveling to Beaumaris for an evening of festivities before the annual regatta the following day. The fifty-mile journey should take about 5 hours and the four-man band was aboard to entertain the passengers.
However, a negligent and drunken captain sat below deck for almost...
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The Steamship City of Glasgow disappeared "without a trace " in March 1854 with 480 souls aboard. No bodies were ever recovered, and no wreckage was ever found. The ship simply vanished. Left behind were family members pacing a Philadelphia wharf expecting her to arrive "any day". Newspapers from three continents excused her late arrival because of weather or mechanical breakdowns. The S.S. City of Glasgow remains one of the great mysteries of the...